Popular Hot Rodding to Popular Chevies

I'm 60 years old and I've been earning a living since I was 10. I've been buying hot rod mags since I was 12. I've mostly read Popular Hot Rodding and Muscle Car Review. I've been a subscriber to both of these magazines. Unfortunately, getting my hands on Muscle Car Review is becoming extremely hard.

I'm not rich by any means so I'm real careful how I spend my money. Last year I re-did my subscription to your magazine because you always had a very good mix of cars and articles including my favorite, AMC muscle. I've owned and raced three 1969 AMX's and a 1972 Gremlin with the factory 304. I've also owned a 1968 and 1995 Mustang, 1965 Pontiac Le Mans Convertible 3-speed, a 1965 Plymouth Sport Fury, and a 1972 Chevrolet SS.

Since I re-subscribed I've seen more articles on Novas, Chevelles, and Camaros with just a SMALL sprinkling of Ford, Olds, Pontiac, Dodge, Plymouth, and AMC's

And for me and what I like, it's getting worse. Two days ago I received my April 2011 magazine with the SCARLINER on the cover. I was very pleased to see this until I opened up the magazine. Car Features, four articles, three are about Chevy's. Tech, four articles, two are about Chevy. PHR Project Car, a Nova.

Your article about "Shakin' In Chicago! 17 pictures of cars in attendance. a '56 Imperial, four Fords, 9 Chevy's, 1 Olds, 2 Pontiac's, a '32 Roadster, and a WWII Bomber. Of the 17 cars pictured, over half are GM's. No AMC's. I guess AMC car's aren't taken to these kind of events.

I've wasted my money and I don't like that. This time when my subscription runs out I won't renew it. I like Chevy's but I don't like having them shoved down my throat. You use to be different from Car "Chevy" Craft and Hot "Chevy's" Rod magazines. Now you're nothing more then a cookie cutter look alike.

For a PHR Project Car why don't you put your car building "skill's" to a real test. You know, step out of your Chevy box and build an AMX or Javelin, or Rebel or even a Gremlin. All with AMC V8 power plants. Show us how to update the suspension like you do on your Chevy's. And the interiors. Use some real rod rodding imagination on that. In the 50's, 60's and even the 70's a man had to use his imagination and acquire new skills to build a hot rod because there were very few companies out there that catered to the hobby. I dare you to do better. I dare you come out of your comfort zone and build an AMC hot rod.

I share your frustration, but that is the state of the hobby. If you go to any of these events there are only a handful of AMC vehicles even present. PHR mostly covers the street machine crowd, and I only saw one car at the Goodguys Nats that even fit that description. (I think Car Craft might have covered it?) Aside from that AMX competing for SMOY there were mostly Ramblers, one Rebel, one Gremlin, and a couple AMXs and Javelins I'd seen the two years before.

Things should improve slightly now that Campbell has replaced Miles. The guy has three Ranchero's--not a passing interest in racing pony cars that's largely shifted to motorcycles and foreign cars. However PHR's segment is still racing muscle cars and the editors are never going to be allotted the time needed to tackle a competitive budget racer of any sort at work. So all you're going to see are project cars showcasing local shops and bolt-ons, which jumps build cost up past $40k and beyond relevance in a hurry.